MAY. 91 



in warmer regions at a much lower elevation. When 

 grown in Britain they are apt, as they grow old, to have 

 their branches torn off by heavy snow falls, and it is a 

 familiar fact that very old trees are usually supported by 

 poles, as otherwise their large horizontal rigid branches 

 are frequently broken down. 



Another instance of the same kind, familiar to us in 

 Dunedin, is furnished by the southern genus Araucaria. 

 A. excelsa, the Norfolk Island Pine, will hardly grow in 

 the open so far south, though it thrives in all parts of 

 the North Island. A. bidicillii, the Bunga-Bunga of South 

 Queensland, grows here very well, but is always liable to 

 destruction or damage even by our light falls of snow. 

 A beautiful specimen of this tree used to grow in front 

 of the old manse at Knox Church, but one winter morn- 

 ing, when rather a heavy fall of soft snow fell, with a 

 southerly wind, the tree bent over towards the north, 

 and the snow gathered on its branches and foliage till 

 the trunk snapped over at the ground. A. imbricata, 

 the so-called " Puzzle Monkey," is a native of Chili and 

 Patagonia, where the winter is rather cold. One has only 

 to look at the tree to see that snow could not hurt it, 

 for it does not present a surface to carry any load. It 

 is therefore beautifully adapted to its climatic conditions, 

 and its hard foliage is not easily hurt by frost. 



The fall of the leaf has been already referred to (see page 

 75) as occurring in the month of April, bvit it is frequently 

 deferred in mild seasons till late in the winter. 



As the leaves fall, the thrushes, blackbirds, and hedge- 

 sparrows become shy about coming near the house, and 

 it takes them some time to get accustomed to the bare 

 branches and the consequent exposure to which their 

 doings are now subject. But many native birds begin to 

 come about which are not seen near houses in the summer 

 months. Every day of late korimakos have been "tinkling 

 out" their curious bell-like notes in the garden, a small 

 tit has been investigating my operations among the 

 flower beds, while even now a pair of grey warblers are 

 flitting about in the foliage at my study window. The 



